Nicole Blades

Warning: It's a jungle out there. No, really. There's a crazy, colorful jungle filled with wild animals and plants for kids to explore, and it's right there on your smart device. Since we always love the kinds of educational apps that ki…

Often, when I see something that claims to be made "for kids, by kids," my suspicious brow goes up and I prepare myself to be underwhelmed. Not the case with #MetsKids , a new website that is -- ahem -- made for, with, and by real life k…

It may sound a tad hokey, but reading really is fundamental to school and life in general, which is why we've worked hard to put together 8 of the very best reading apps for older kids as part of our Back to School Tech Guide 2015. Wheth…

Next up in our Back to School Tech Guide 2015, we're happy to share 10 of the best reading apps for little kids. Because as plenty of us parents know, getting kids hyped about reading isn't always an easy road. So when they're first star…

Let's hear it for organizational apps this time of year! What would we ever do without them? After all, back to school also means getting back to routines, which can highlight some of our old systems for staying organized and keeping the…

We're big fans of dedicated kids' tablets around here. We even have a list of our favorite tablets for kids , for those parents who aren't quite ready to hand over a $500 iPad to a preschooler. Even if it is a hand-me-down. And this is w…

Along with the diapers and burp clothes and countless other pieces of baby gear, perhaps the most valuable things that new (and newish) parents can receive are the BTDT words of wisdom from other parents who are boldly and actively doing…

For well over a decade, people have been talking -- or more like yelling -- about being hamstrung by cable companies. Some had-it-up-to-here folks have started cutting the cable cord and looking for more manageable, customized ways of wa…

If we asked you to count the things you'd rather spend a day doing than iPhone photo organization, what number would we be talking about here? Fifteen? Fifty? Eleventy hundred other things you'd rather do? Yeah, wrangling the tons of pho…

Last year I told you about the greatest pen that has ever penned : also known as the Livescribe 3 smartpen . Well, this year, kicking off back-to-school season with class, comes the new Echo Smartpen 8GB Pro Edition . Very similar to Liv…

I recently found myself caught out there without portable, backup battery power . I mean, I had a Plan C -- my iPhone charger in my purse -- which was more like a Plan E, because trying to locate a conveniently-placed wall outlet at a ma…

I am pretty sure that it's written somewhere in the fine print of the Parenthood Contract that we're supposed to take tons of photos of our kids. So it's always a nice bonus when the subjects of our countless pics develop their own inter…

Ever since becoming parents, it's the thing that so many of us crave, covet and perhaps miss the most about our pre-kid lives: sleep, glorious sleep. And on Cool Mom Tech, we're all about sharing helpful tips and tech for getting better …

Getting our kids on board with STEM early in the game seems like a great way to go. And just because it's summer doesn't mean that gentle parent-ly nudge in the right direction has to take a break. An easy way to get kids hyped about thi…

To say that we like iPhoneography is like saying Frozen was a marginal success. Yeah. No understatement: We are huge fans of iPhone picture-takin' over here. Which is why I'm always excited to see what cool, new accessories are popping u…

Think about the last email you sent off in haste. Maybe it had a ridiculous typo. Or, worse, you spilled out all your anger or hurt feelings across the QWERTY instead of taking a breath -- or a night's sleep -- before hitting send. Ugh. …

Oh, Instagram . Just when we think we couldn't love you more, you go an pull something like this? Yes, our fave photo social media app just got a really cool update that will help you discover new places and may just revitalize the way y…

School's out (finally). Time to really sink into summer's sun and fun. But for many parents, summer also means tackling this gnawing question, how are we going to keep these children entertained? Well, for your tech-head kid, we're happy…

Question: How many Beyoncés does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: As many as you're in the mood for, because these rad LED light bulbs are also Bluetooth wireless speakers. So basically whatever strikes your fancy when you're tu…

First, let's get this out of the way: There's an ongoing tomayto-tomahto situation around the correct way to pronounce the popular notebook-maker Moleskine -- is it skin or skine ? The official response according to the company is, your …

We've covered plenty of portable, Bluetooth speakers here at Cool Mom Tech, but I think the brand new JBL Charge 2+ basically blew all the other ones right out of the water. Heh. The JBL Charge 2+ is already getting plenty of use at our …

If you're always looking for the newest, coolest toys for your kids, we think you're going to want to know about the introduction of the wildly cool Disney Playmation this fall, because mamas? This could be a category changer. If it does…

Plenty of coolness was rolled out at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference this week, and we're here to share the intel with you that we think parents will care about most. And yeah, non parents too. The biggest news is that Apple iOS …

Wearable fitness tech is super hot right now. (Duh, right?) And with all the rad, new stuff coming down the line, it almost feels as if we're getting a mini workout just trying to keep up. I especially like these cool, stylish fitness tr…